Montreal Artists: Laucolo

If you’ve been following my Facebook/Instagram feeds lately, I know you think that I’ve become obsessed with vegetables and plants. Unfortunately, this post won’t really help convince you otherwise.
Laurence is a local artist who draws local vegetables (although the occasional fruit will sneak in there as well). She starts with realistic drawings of her subjects, to which she then adds splashes of watercolour. At times, her work blends art and information into one. You might've already seen her illustrations in various stores or markets across Montreal under the name Laucolo. You can check out her Etsy store here.

I stopped by her studio on a recent snowy day to photograph her creation process. The formula for her magic? (( paper + pencil ) + ( paper + watercolour )) x laptop.

What I appreciate most about her as an artist is how the subject of her work came before the medium. She didn’t start as an illustrator looking for different subjects to draw and settled on vegetables. Rather, it’s her initial interest in agriculture, food systems, and food sovereignty that led her to illustration, which started just for herself, but then grew into freelancing contracts for various organizations in the agri-food world. It’s this passion of hers that also led her to co-found the non-profit On Sème, the organization behind the urban agriculture events Marché de Novembre & Marché de Mai in Montreal.

And woohoo, Laurence recently joined our mastermind group (a little “study group” for creative entrepreneurs — I’ve written more about it here). Her first question to us was a very important one: “What's your favourite vegetable?”.

Keep up with her work on Facebook or Instagram, and in case you didn’t get a chance to buy a poster, calendar, or cards, in the recent Christmas markets, you can find everything on her Etsy store. Her website is laucolo.com. And her favourite vegetable is the red bell pepper (but only when it’s in season).